The life and adventures of Rob and Di Martin

Blessings

Today Rob ran another service at the Detention Centre at the request of those inside, with the theme of new hope for a new year. He preached from 1 Pet 1:3 “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. He spoke about this hope being even better than the hope of a new life in Australia. Must’ve gone down OK because the blessing tally has gone up – 3 today! 3 guys asked Rob to pray a blessing on themselves and their family. It feels wierd for Rob because even though he’s the ‘pastor’ he’s no different to them in God’s eyes. They have obviously had a different style of church back home. We’re used to a more egalitarian style, where the minister is highly regarded but treated pretty much like an equal. Also different is the tone of the service. Rob opened his message today with ‘Alleluia’, which was echoed with several alleluias from the crowd (25 today). A bit different to Darling Point – or anywhere else we’ve been for that matter!

Again it was a great opportunity to encourage the Christians and share the message of Christianity with those who might not be Christian – if nothing else, it gave them something to do. It’s fantastic that there’s a good translator here to enable Rob to communicate with them. As it turns out, he’s from Strathfield (goes to St Anne’s Anglican).

G’day Rob, I’ve now read all your blog entries, from 1st to this one on New Year’s Day. Without taking too much time, can you give a one-line summary of how the Martins ended up at Christmas Island? What’s the job description? How long for? Thanks, mate.

Answered an advertisement from Christmas Island Fellowship who don’t usually have anyone fulltime but rely on a small leadership team. This team are away so they offered this job for 2 months (finishing end Jan), paying for our flights and giving us a house and car to use and a bit of spending money. Job description is preach, visit people at detention centre and anything else is a bonus, so lots of sightseeing as well!